
COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS 



POEMS 



OF THIS PRESENTATION EDITION 

ONE HUNDRED COPIES HAVE 

BEEN PRINTED, OF 

WHICH THIS IS 



NUMBER- 



WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE AUTHOR 



POEMS 



BY 



MARY BAKER EDDY 

AUTHOR OF "SCIENCE AND HEALTH, WITH KEY 
TO THE SCRIPTURES" 




BOSTON, U.S.A. 

Published by ALLISON V, STEWART 

FALMOUTH AND ST. PAUL STREETS 

I9IO 



Copyright, 1910 
By Mary Baker Eddy 

all rights reserved 



THE . PLIMPTON • PRESS 

[ W . D . O] 
NORWOOD . MASS . U • S • A 



©CI.Ak!7r,;j 



PREFACE 

THE poems garnered up in this little volume 
were written at different periods in the life 
of the author, dating from her early girlhood up 
to recent years. They were not written with a 
view of making a book, each poem being the spon- 
taneous outpouring of a deeply poetic nature and 
called forth by some experience that claimed her 
attention. 

The "Old Man of the Mountain,'' for instance, 
was written while the author was contemplating 
this lofty New Hampshire crag, whose rugged out- 
lines resemble the profile of a human face. Inspired 
by the grandeur of this masterpiece of nature's handi- 
work, and looking ''up through nature, unto nature's 
God," the poem began to take form in her thought, 
and alighting from her carriage, she seated herself 
by the roadside and began to write. Some tourists 
who were passing, and who made her acquaintance, 
asked her what she was writing, and she replied 
by reading the poem to them. They were so pleased 
with it that each requested a copy, which was sub- 
sequently mailed to them. Similar requests con- 
tinued to reach the author for years afterward, until 



VI PREFACE 

the poem finally found its way into print, appear- 
ing, together with "The Valley Cemetery,^' in a 
hook "Gems for You,'' published in Manchester, 
N. H., in 1850, and again in Boston, in 1856. 

The poem on the "Dedication of a Temperance 
Hall,'' in Lynn, Mass., in 1866, was written for 
that occasion, and was sung by the audience as a 
dedicatory hymn. "The Liberty Bells" appeared 
in a Lynn, Mass., newspaper, under the date of 
February 3, 1865. A note from the author, which 
was published with the poem, read as follows : 

"Mb. Editok: — In 1835 a mob in Boston 
(although Boston has since been the pioneer of 
anti-slavery) dispersed a meeting of the Female 
Anti-Slavery Society, and assailed the person of 
William Lloyd Garrison ivith such fury that the 
city authorities could protect him nowhere but in 
the walls of a jail. To-day, by order of Governor 
Andrew, the bells are ringing to celebrate the pass- 
ing of a resolution in Congress prohibiting slavery 
in the United States." 

All of the author's best-known hymns are in- 
cluded in this collection, as well as many poems 
written in girlhood and during the years she resided 
in Lynn, Mass., and which appeared in various 
publications of that day. Among her earliest poems 
are '' Upward," ^'Resolutions for the Day," 
'^ Autumn" {written in a maple grove), '^ Alpha- 
bet and Bayonet," and '' The Country-Seat" {writ- 



PREFACE Vll 

ten while visiting a family friend in the beautiful 
suburbs of Boston) ; yet, even these are characterized 
by the same lofty trend of thought that reached its 
fulness in her later productions. 

In May, 1910, Mrs. Eddy requested her pub- 
lisher to prepare a few bound volumes of her poems, 
for private distribution. When this became known 
to her friends, they urged her to allow a popular 
edition to be issued, to which she assented. With 
grateful acknowledgment, therefore, of this per- 
mission, this little volume is presented to the public, 
in the hope that these gems of purest thought 
from this spiritually -minded author will prove 
a joy to the heavy laden and a balm to the weary 
heart. 

Adam H. Dickey. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., September 24, 1910. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Old Man of the Mountain 1 

Constancy 3 

Mother's Evening Prayer 4 

Love 6 

I'm Sitting Alone 8 

The United States to Great Britain ... 10 

Christ My Refuge 12 

"Feed My Sheep" 14 

The Valley Cemetery 15 

Upward 18 

The Oak on the Mountain's Summit .... 20 

Woman's Rights 21 

The New Century 22 

To My Absent Brother 23 

Signs of the Heart 24 

Flowers 25 

To THE Old Year — 1865 26 

Invocation for 1868 28 

Christmas Morn 29 

Easter Morn 30 

Resolutions for the Day 32 

O FOR Thy Wings, Sweet Bird! 34 

Come Thou 36 

Wish and Item 38 

Dedication of a Temperance Hall .... 39 

Lines 41 

To THE Sunday School Children 43 

Hope 45 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE 

To Etta 46 

Nevermore 47 

Meeting of My Departed Mother and Husband 48 

Isle of Wight 51 

Spring 53 

June 55 

Rondelet 57 

Autumn 58 

Alphabet and Bayonet 60 

The Country-Seat 62 

To Ellen. "Sing Me That Song!" .... 65 

Lines, on Visiting Pine Grove Cemetery . • 67 

A Verse 69 

Truth 70 

"The Liberty Bells" 71 

"Memento" 73 

Communion Hymn 75 

Laus Deo 76 

Our National Thanksgiving Hymn 77 

Satisfied 79 



POEMS 



POEMS 




OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN 

IGANTIC sire, unfallen still thy 

crest! 
Primeval dweller where the wild 
winds rest, 
Beyond the ken of mortal 'tis to tell 
What power sustains thee in thy rock-bound 
cell. 

Or if, when first creation vast began, 

And far the universal fiat ran, 

^^Let there be light" — from chaos dark set 

free. 
Ye rose, a monument of Deity, 

Proud from yon cloud-crowned height to 

look henceforth 
On insignificance that peoples earth, 
RecalUng oft the bitter draft which turns 
The mind to meditate on what it learns. 
1 



2 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

Stern, passionless, no soul those looks betray; 
Though kindred rocks, to sport at mortal 

clay — 
Much as the chisel of the sculptor's art 
^' Plays round the head, but comes not to 

the heart." 

Ah, who can fathom thee! Ambitious man, 
Like a trained falcon in the Gallic van. 
Guided and led, can never reach to thee 
With all the strength of weakness — vanity! 

Great as thou art, and paralleled by none. 
Admired by all, still art thou drear and lone! 
The moon looks down upon thine exiled 

height; 
The stars, so cold, so ghtteringly bright, 

On wings of morning gladly flit away. 
Yield to the sun's more genial, mighty ray; 
The white waves kiss the murmuring rill — 
But thy deep silence is unbroken still. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



CONSTANCY 

!HEN starlight blends with morn- 
ing's hue, 

I miss thee as the flower the dew! 
When noonday's length'ning shad- 
ows flee, 
I think of thee, I think of thee! 

With evening, memories reappear — 
I watch thy chair, and wish thee here; 
Till sleep sets drooping fancy free 
To dream of thee, to dream of thee! 

Since first we met, in weal or woe 
It hath been thus; and must be so 
Till bursting bonds our spirits part 
And Love divine doth fill my heart. 
Written many years ago. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



MOTHERS EVENING PRAYER 

GENTLE presence, peace and joy 

and power; 
O Life divine, that owns each 
waiting hour, 
Thou Love that guards the nestUng's falter- 
ing flight! 
Keep Thou my child on upward wing 
tonight. 

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye 
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall: 

His habitation high is here, and nigh, 
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all. 

O make me glad for every scalding tear. 
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain! 

Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear 
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain. 

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing; 

In that sweet secret of the narrow way. 
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing: 

^'Lo, I am with you alway," — watch and 
pray. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 5 

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain; 
No night drops down upon the troubled 
breast, 
When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops 
gain, 
And mother finds her home and heav'nly 
rest. 




6 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



LOVE 

ROOD o'er us with Thy shelt'ring 
wing, 
'Neath which our spirits blend 
Like brother birds, that soar and 
sing, 
And on the same branch bend. 
The arrow that doth wound the dove 
Darts not from those who watch and love. 

If thou the bending reed wouldst break 

By thought or word unkind. 
Pray that his spirit you partake. 

Who loved and healed mankind: 
Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain, 
That make men one in love remain. 

Learn, too, that wisdom's rod is given 

For faith to kiss, and know; 
That greetings glorious from high heaven, 

Whence joys supernal flow, 
Come from that Love, divinely near, 
Which chastens pride and earth-born fear, 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 7 

Through God, who gave that word of might 

Which swelled creation's lay: 
''Let there be Ught, and there was light." 

What chased the clouds away? 
Twas Love whose finger traced aloud 
A bow of promise on the cloud. 

Thou to whose power our hope we give, 

Free us from human strife. 
Fed by Thy love divine we live, 

For Love alone is Life; 
And life most sweet, as heart to heart 
Speaks kindly when we meet and part. 




8 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



FM SITTING ALONE 

'M sitting alone where the shadows 
fall 
In somber groups at the vesper-call, 
Where tear-dews of night seek the 
loving rose, 
Her bosom to fill with mortal woes. 

I'm waiting alone for the bridal hour 
Of nymph and naiad from woodland bower; 
Till vestal pearls that on leaflets lay, 
Ravished with beauty the eye of day. 

I'm watching alone o'er the starlit glow, 

O'er the silv'ry moon and ocean flow; 

And sketching in Hght the heaven of my 

youth — 
Its starry hopes and its waves of truth. 

I'm dreaming alone of its changeful sky — 
What rainbows of rapture floated by! 
Of a mother's love, that no words could speak 
When parting the ringlets to kiss my cheek. 

I'm thinking alone of a fair young bride. 
The light of a home of love and pride; 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 9 

How the glance of her husband's watchful eye 
Turned to his star of idolatry. 

I'm picturing alone a glad young face, 
Upturned to his mother's in playful grace; 
And the unsealed fountains of grief and joy 
That gushed at the birth of that beautiful 
boy. 

I'm weeping alone that the vision is fled, 
The leaves all faded, the fruitage shed, 
And wishing this earth more gifts from above. 
Our reason made right and hearts all love. 

Lynn, Mass., September 3, 1866. 




10 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

THE UNITED STATES TO j 

GREAT BRITAIN \ 

AIL, brother! fling thy banner 
To the billows and the breeze; 

We proffer thee warm welcome ' 
With our hand, though not 

our knees. i 

Lord of the main and manor! 

Thy palm, in ancient day, j 

Didst rock the country's cradle j 

That wakes thy laureate's lay. ; 

The hoar fight is forgotten; j 

Our eagle, like the dove, ! 

Returns to bless a bridal j 

Betokened from above. I 

List, brother! angels whisper ; 

To Judah's sceptered race, — j 

^^Thou of the self-same spirit, ■■ 

Allied by nations' grace, 

''Wouldst cheer the hosts of heaven; 

For Anglo-Israel, lo! 

Is marching under orders; < 

His hand averts the blow,'^ ' 

1 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 11 

Brave Britain, blest America! 

Unite your battle-plan; 
Victorious, all who live it, — 

The love for God and man. 

Boston Herald, Sunday, May 15, 1898. 




12 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



CHRIST MY REFUGE 

'ER waiting harpstrings of the mind 
There sweeps a strain, 
Low, sad, and sweet, whose meas- 
ures bind 
The power of pain. 

And wake a white-winged angel throng 

Of thoughts, illumed 
By faith, and breathed in raptured song, 

With love perfumed. 

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show 

Life's burdens light. 
I kiss the cross, and wake to know 

A world more bright. 

And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea 

I see Christ walk. 
And come to me, and tenderly. 

Divinely talk. 

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock, 

Upon Life's shore, 
'Gainst which the winds and waves can 
shock, 

Oh, nevermore! 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 13 

From tired joy and grief afar, 

And nearer Thee, — 
Father, where Thine own children are, 

I love to be. 

My prayer, some daily good to do 

To Thine, for Thee; 
An offering pure of Love, whereto 

God leadeth me. 




14 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

''FEED MY SHEEP'' 

HEPHERD, show me how to go 
O'er the hillside steep, 
How to gather, how to sow, — 
How to feed Thy sheep; 
I will listen for Thy voice. 

Lest my footsteps stray; 
I will follow and rejoice 
All the rugged way. 

Thou wilt bind the stubborn will, 

Wound the callous breast. 
Make self-righteousness be still, 

Break earth's stupid rest. 
Strangers on a barren shore, 

Lab'ring long and lone. 
We would enter by the door. 

And Thou know'st Thine own; 

So, when day grows dark and cold, 

Tear or triumph harms. 
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold. 

Take them in Thine arms; 
Feed the hungry, heal the heart. 

Till the morning's beam; 
White as wool, ere they depart, 

Shepherd, wash them clean. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 15 



THE VALLEY CEMETERY 

E soft sighing zephyrs through foH- 
age and vine! 
Ye echoing moans from the foot- 
steps of time! 
Break not on the silence, unless thou canst 

bear 
A message from heaven — ''No partings are 
there." 

Here gloom hath enchantment in beauty^s 

array, 
And whispering voices are calling away — 
Their wooings are soft as the vision more 

vain — 
I would hve in their empire, or die in their 

chain. 

Here smileth the blossom and sunshine not 

dead — 
Flowers fresh as the pang in the bosom that 

bled, — 
Yes, constant as love that outliveth the 

grave, 
And time cannot quench in oblivion's wave. 



16 POEMS BY MAKY BAKER EDDY 

And thou, gentle cypress, in evergreen tears, 
Art constant and hopeful though winter 

appears. 
My heart hath thy verdure, it blossoms 

above; 
Like thee, it endureth and liveth in love. 

Ambition, come hither! These vaults will 

unfold 
The sequel of power, of glory, or gold; 
Then rush into life, and roll on with its tide. 
And bustle and toil for its pomp and its pride. 

The tired wings flitting through far crimson 

glow. 
Which steepeth the trees when the day-god 

is low; 
The voice of the night-bird must here send a 

thrill 
To the heart of the leaves when the winds 

are all still. 

'Mid graves do I hear the glad voices that 

swell, 
And call to my spirit with seraphs to dwell; 
They come with a breath from the verdant 

springtime. 
And waken my joy, as in earliest prime. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 17 

Blest beings departed! Ye echoes at dawn! 
O tell of their radiant home and its morn! 
Then I'll think of its glory, and rest till I see 
My loved ones in glory still waiting for me. 




18 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



UPWARD 

'VE watched in the azure the eagle's 
proud wing, 
/i His soaring majestic, and feather- 
some fling — 
Careening in hberty higher and higher — 
Like genius unfolding a quenchless desire. 

Would a tear dim his eye, or pinion lose 

power 
To gaze on the lark in her emerald bower ? 
When higher he soareth to compass his rest, 
What vision so bright as the dream in his 

breast ! 

God^s eye is upon him. He penciled his 

path 
Whose omniscient notice the frail fledgUng 

hath. 
Though lightnings be lurid and earthquakes 

may shock, 
He rides on the whirlwind or rests on the 

rock. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 19 

My course, like the eagle's, oh, still be it high, 
Celestial the breezes that waft o'er its sky! 
God's eye is upon me — I am not alone 
When onward and upward and heavenward 
borne. 

Written in early years. 




20 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



THE OAK ON THE MOUNTAIN'S 
SUMMIT 

H, mountain monarchj at whose 
feet I stand, — 
Clouds to adorn thy brow, skies 
clasp thy hand, — 
Nature divine, in harmony profound. 
With peaceful presence hath begirt thee 
round. 

And thou, majestic oak, from yon high place 
Guard'st thou the earth, asleep in night's 

embrace, — 
And from thy lofty summit, pouring down 
Thy sheltering shade, her noonday glories 

crown? 

Whatever thy mission, mountain sentinel, 
To my lone heart thou art a power and spell; 
A lesson grave, of life, that teacheth me 
To love the Hebrew figure of a tree. 

Faithful and patient be my life as thine; 
As strong to wrestle with the storms of time; 
As deeply rooted in a soil of love; 
As grandly rising to the heavens above. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 21 



WOMAN'S RIGHTS 

[RAVE on her monumental pile: 
She won from vice, by virtue's 

smile, 
Her dazzling crown, her sceptered 
throne, 
Affection's wreath, a happy home; 

The right to worship deep and pure, 
To bless the orphan, feed the poor; 
Last at the cross to mourn her Lord, 
First at the tomb to hear his word: 

To fold an angel's wings below; 
And hover o'er the couch of woe; 
To nurse the Bethlehem babe so sweet. 
The right to sit at Jesus' feet; 

To form the bud for bursting bloom, 
The hoary head with joy to crown; 
In short, the right to work and pray, 
^'To point to heaven and lead the way." 

Lynn, Mass., May 6, 1876. 




22 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



THE NEW CENTURY 

HOU God-crowned, patient century, 
Thine hour hath come! Eternity 
Draws nigh — and, beckoning from 
above, 

One hundred years, aflame with Love, 
Again shall bid old earth good-by — 
And, lo, the light! far heaven is nigh! 
New themes seraphic, Life divine. 
And bhss that wipes the tears of time 
Away, will enter, when they may, 
And bask in one eternal day. 

Tis writ on earth, on leaf and flower: 
Love hath one race, one realm, one power. 
Dear God! how great, how good Thou art 
To heal humanity's sore heart; 
To probe the wound, then pour the balm — 
A hfe perfected, strong and calm. 
The dark domain of pain and sin 
Surrenders — Love doth enter in. 
And peace is won, and lost is vice: 
Right reigns, and blood was not its price. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., January, 1901. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 23 



TO MY ABSENT BROTHER 

WELLS there a shadow on thy 
brow — 
_ A look that years impart? 

^^^==^^ Does there a thought of van- 
ished hours 
Come ever o'er thy heart? 

Or give those earnest eyes yet back 

An image of the soul, 
Mirrored in truth, in light and joy, 

Above the world's control? 

So may their gaze be ever fraught 
With utterance deep and strong, 

Yielding a holy strength to right, 
A stern rebuke to wrong! 

Thy soul, upborne on wisdom's wings. 

In brighter morn will find 
Life hath a higher recompense 

Than just to please mankind. 

Supreme and omnipresent God, 

Guide him in wisdom's way! 
Give peaceful triumph to the truth, 

Bid error melt away! 

Lynn, Mass., November 8, 1866. 




24 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



SIGNS OF THE HEART 

OME to me, joys of heaven! 
Breathe through the summer air 
A balm — the long-lost leaven 

Dissolving death, despair! 
O httle heart, 
To me thou art 
A sign that never can depart. 

Come to me, peace on earth! 

From out life's billowy sea, — 
A wave of welcome birth, — 
The Life that lives in Thee! 
O Love divine. 
This heart of Thine 
Is all I need to comfort mine. 

Come when the shadows fall. 

And night grows deeply dark; 
The barren brood, O call 
With song of morning lark; 
And from above. 
Dear heart of Love, 
Send us thy white-winged dove. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 1899. 




POEMS BY MAKY BAKER EDDY 25 



FLOWERS 

IRRORS of morn 
Whence the dewdrop is born, 
Soft tints of the rainbow and 
skies — 
Sisters of song, 
What a shadowy throng 
Around you in memory rise! 

Far do ye fiee, 

From your green bowers free, 

Fair floral apostles of love, 

Sweetly to shed 

Fragrance fresh round the dead. 

And breath of the living above. 

Flowers for the brave — 
Be he monarch or slave, 
Whose heart bore its grief and is still! 
Flowers for the kind — 
Aye, the Christians who wdnd 
Wreaths for the triumphs o'er ill! 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., May 21, 1904. 




26 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



TO THE OLD F^AE — 1865 

ASS on, returnless year! 
The track behind thee is with 

glory crowned; 
The turf where thou hast trod is 
holy ground. 
Pass proudly to thy bier! 

Chill was thy midnight day, 
While Justice grasped the sword to hold her 

throne. 
And on her altar our loved Lincoln's own 

Great wilUng heart did lay. 

Thy purpose hath been won! 
Thou point 'st thy phantom finger, grim and 

cold, 
To the dark record of our guilt unrolled, 

And smiling, say'st, '' Tis done! 

^'This record I will bear 
To the dim chambers of eternity — 
The chain and charter I have lived to see 

Purged by the cannon's prayer; 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 27 

^^ Convulsion, carnage, war; 
The pomp and tinsel of unrighteous power; 
Bloated oppression in its awful hour, — 

I, dying, dare abhor!'' 

One word, receding year, 
Ere thou grow tremulous with shadowy 

night ! 
Say, will the young year dawn with wisdom's 
light 
To brighten o'er thy bier? 

Or we the past forget. 
And heal her wounds too tenderly to last? 
Or let today grow difficult and vast 

With traitors unvoiced yet? 

Though thou must leave the tear, — 
Hearts bleeding ere they break in silence yet. 
Wrong jubilant and right with bright eye 
wet, — 

Thou fast expiring year. 

Thy work is done, and well: 
Thou hast borne burdens, and may take thy 

rest, 
Pillow thy head on time's untired breast. 

Illustrious year, farewell! 

Lynn, Mass., January 1, 1866. 




28 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



INVOCATION FOR 1868 

ATHER of every age, 
Of every rolling sphere, 
Help us to write a death- 
less page 
Of truth, this dawning year! 

Help us to humbly bow 
To Thy all-wise behest — 

Whatever the gift of joy or woe. 
Knowing Thou knowest best. 

Aid our poor soul to sing 
Above the tempest's glee; 

Give us the eagle's fearless wing. 
The dove's to soar to Thee! 

All-merciful and good. 

Hover the homeless heart! 
Give us this day our daily food 
In knowing what Thou art! 
Swampscott, Mass., January 1, 1868. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 29 

CHRISTMAS MORN 

LEST Christmas morn, though 
murky clouds 
Pursue thy way, 
Thy hght was born where storm 
enshrouds 
Nor dawn nor day! 

Dear Christ, forever here and near, 

No cradle song, 
No natal hour and mother^s tear, 

To thee belong. 

Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned, 

The Bethlehem babe — 
Beloved, replete, by flesh embound — 

Was but thy shade! 

Thou gentle beam of living Love, 

And deathless Life! 
Truth infinite, — so far above 

All mortal strife. 

Or cruel creed, or earth-born taint: 

Fill us today 
With all thou art — be thou our saint. 

Our stay, alway. 

December, 1898. 




30 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



EASTER MORN 

ENTLY thou beckonest from the 
giant hills 
The new-born beauty in the emer- 
ald sky, 

And wakening murmurs from the drowsy 
rills — 
O gladsome dayspring! 'reft of mortal sigh 
To glorify all time — eternity — 
With thy still fathomless Christ-majesty. 

E'en as Thou gildest gladdened joy, dear 
God, 
Give risen power to prayer; fan Thou the 
flame 
Of right with might; and midst the rod, 
And stern, dark shadows cast on Thy blest 
name. 
Lift Thou a patient love above earth's ire. 
Piercing the clouds with its triumphal spire. 

While sacred song and loudest breath of 
praise 
Echo amid the hymning spheres of light, — 
With heaven's lyres and angels' loving lays, — 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 31 

Send to the loyal struggler for the right, 
Joy — not of time, nor yet by nature sown. 
But the celestial seed dropped from Love's 
throne. 

Prolong the strain " Christ risen ! " Sad sense, 
annoy 
No more the peace of Soul's sweet soHtude! 
Deep loneness, tear-filled tones of distant joy. 
Depart! Glad Easter glows with grati- 
tude — 
Love's verdure veils the leaflet's wondrous 

birth — 
Rich rays, rare footprints on the dust of earth. 

Not Hfe, the vassal of the changeful hour. 
Nor burdened bhss, but Truth and Love 
attest 
The solemn splendor of immortal power, — 

The ever Christ, and glorified behest. 
Poured on the sense which deems no suffering 

vain 
That wipes away the sting of death — sin, 
pain. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N, H., April 18, 1900. 




32 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



RESOLUTIONS FOR THE DAY 

\0 rise in the morning and drink in 
the view — 
The home where I dwell in the 
vale, 

The blossoms whose fragrance and charms 
ever new 
Are scattered o'er hillside and dale; 

To gaze on the sunbeams enkindling the 
sky — 

A loftier life to invite — 
A light that illumines my spiritual eye, 

And inspires my pen as I write; 

To form resolutions, with strength from on 
high, 

Such physical laws to obey, 
As reason with appetite, pleasures deny, 

That health may my efforts repay; 

To kneel at the altar of mercy and pray 
That pardon and grace, through His Son, 

May comfort my soul all the wearisome day, 
And cheer me with hope when 'tis done; 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 33 

To daily remember my blessings and charge, 
And make this my humble request: 

Increase Thou my faith and my vision 
enlarge, 
And bless me with Christ's promised rest; 

To hourly seek for dehverance strong 
From selfishness, sinfulness, dearth. 

From vanity, folly, and all that is wrong — 
With ambition that binds us to earth; 

To kindly pass over a wound, or a foe 
(And mem'ry but part us awhile), 

To breathe forth a prayer that His love I 
may know, 
Whose mercies my sorrows beguile, — 

If these resolutions are acted up to. 
And faith spreads her pinions abroad, 

'Twill be sweet when I ponder the days may 
be few 
That waft me away to my God. 

Written in girlhood. 




34 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



FOR THY WINGS, SWEET BIRD! 

FOR thy wings, sweet bird! 
And soul of melody by being 
blest — 
Like thee, my voice had stirred 
Some dear remembrance in a weary breast. 

But whither wouldst thou rove. 

Bird of the airy wing, and fold thy plumes? 
In what dark leafy grove 

Wouldst chant thy vespers 'mid rich 
glooms? 

Or sing thy love-lorn note — 

In deeper sohtude, where nymph or saint 
Has wooed some mystic spot. 

Divinely desolate the shrine to paint? 

Yet wherefore ask thy doom? 

Blessed compared with me thou art — 
Unto thy greenwood home 

Bearing no bitter memory at heart; 

Wearing no earthly chain. 

Thou canst in azure bright soar far above; 
Nor pinest thou in vain 

O'er joys departed, unforgotten love. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 35 

O take me to thy bower! 

Beguile the lagging hours of weariness 
With strain which hath strange power 

To make me love thee as I love life less! 

From mortal consciousness 

Which binds to earth — infirmity of woe! 
Or pining tenderness — 

Whose streams will never dry or cease to 
flow; 

An aching, voiceless void, 

Hushed in the heart whereunto none reply, 
And in the cringing crowd 

Companionless ! Bird, bear me through 
the sky! 

Written more than sixty years ago for the New Hamp- 
shire Patriot. 



36 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



COME THOU 




OME, in the minstrers lay; 
When two hearts meet, 
And true hearts greet, 
And all is morn and May. 



Come Thou! and now, anew, 
To thought and deed 
Give sober speed, 
Thy will to know, and do. 

Stay! till the storms are o'er - 
The cold blasts done. 
The reign of heaven begun. 

And Love, the evermore. 

Be patient, waiting heart: 
Light, Love divine 
Is here, and thine; 

You therefore cannot part. 

''The seasons come and go: 
Love, like the sea. 
Rolls on with thee, — 

But knows no ebb and flow. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 37 

'^ Faith, hope, and tears, triune, 

Above the sod 

Find peace in God, 
And one eternal noon/' 

Oh, Thou hast heard my prayer; 

And I am blest! 

This is Thy high behest: 
Thou, here and everywhere. 




38 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



WISH AND ITEM 

To the editor of the Itern, Lynn, Mass. 

HOPE the heart that's hungry 
^, For things above the floor, 
Will find within its portals 
An item rich in store; 

That melancholy mortals 
Will count their mercies o'er, 

And learn that Truth and wisdom 
Have many items more; 

That when a wrong is done us, 
It stirs no thought of strife; 

And Love becomes the substance. 
As item, of our life; 

That every ragged urchin. 
With bare feet soiled or sore, 

Share God's most tender mercies, — 
Find items at our door. 

Then if we've done to others 
Some good ne'er told before, 

WTien angels shall repeat it, 
'Twill be an item more. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 39 

DEDICATION OF A TEMPERANCE 
HALL 

AUTHOR of all divine 

Gifts, lofty, pure, and free, 
Temperance and truth in song 
sublime 
An offering bring to Thee! 

A temple, whose high dome 

Rose from a water-cup; 
And from its altar to Thy throne 

May we press on and up! 

And she — last at the cross. 
First at the tomb, who waits — 

Woman — will watch to cleanse from dross 
The cause she elevates. 

Sons of the old Bay State, 

Work for our glorious cause! 
And be your waiting hearts elate. 

Since temperance makes your laws. 

'^ Temples of Honor,'' all, 

''Social," or grand, or great, 
This blazoned, brilliant temperance hall 

To Thee we dedicate. 



40 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

^'Good Templars" one and all, 

Good '^Sons/' and daughters, too, 
We dedicate this temperance hall 
To God, to Truth, and you! 
Lynn, Mass., August 4, 1866. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 41 

LINES 

Come, rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer. 

— Moore. 

AS that fold for the lambkin soft 
virtue's repose, 
Where the weary and earth- 
stricken lay down their woes, — 
When the fountain and leaflet are frozen and 

sere, 
And the mountains more friendless, — their 
home is not here? 

When the herd had forsaken, and left them 

to stray 
From the green sunny slopes of the woodland 

away; 
Where the music of waters had fled to the sea, 
And this Ufe but one given to suffer and be? 

Was it then thou didst call them to banish 

all pain, 
And the harpstring, just breaking, reecho 

again 
To a strain of enchantment that flowed as 

the wave. 
Where they waited to welcome the murmur 

it gave? 



42 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

Oh, there's never a shadow where sunshine 

is not, 
And never the sunshine without a dark spot; 
Yet there's one will be victor, for glory and 

fame. 
Without heart to define them, were only a 

name! 

Lynn, Mass., February 19, 1868. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 43 

TO THE SUNDAY SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Who sent me the picture depictive of Isaiah xi. 

\ 
ESUS loves you! so does mother: j 

Glad thy Eastertide: ; 

Loving God and one another, | 

You in Him abide. 
Ours through Him who gave you to us, — 

Gentle as the dove, 
Fondling e'en the lion furious. 
Leading kine with love. 

Father, in Thy great heart hold them 

Ever thus as Thine! 
Shield and guide and guard them; and, when 

At some siren shrine 
They would lay their pure hearts^ off' ring, 

Light with wisdom's ray — 
Beacon beams — athwart the weakly, i 

Rough or treacherous way. j 

Temper every trembling footfall, J 

Till they gain at last — ■ 

Safe in Science, bright with glory — 
Just the way Thou hast: 



44 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

Then, O tender Love and wisdom, 
Crown the hves thus blest 

With the guerdon of Thy bosom. 
Whereon they may rest! 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., April 3, 1899. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 45 



HOPE 

I IS borne on the zephyr at eventide's 
hour; 
It falls on the heart like the dew 
on the flower, — 
An infinite essence from tropic to pole, 
The promise, the home, and the heaven 
of Soul. 

Hope happifies Hfe, at the altar or bower, 
And loosens the fetters of pride and of power; 
It comes through our tears, as the soft 

summer rain. 
To beautify, bless, and make joyful again. 

The harp of the minstrel, the treasure of time; 
A rainbow of rapture, overarching, divine; 
The God-given mandate that speaks from 

above, — 
No place for earth's idols, but hope thou, and 

love. 




46 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



TO ETTA 

I AIR girl, thy rosebud heart rests 
warm 
Within hfe's summer bowers! 
Nor blasts of winter's angry storm, 
Nor April's changeful showers, 

Its leaves have shed or bowed the stem; 

But gracefully it stands — 
A gem in beauty's diadem, 

Unplucked by ruthless hands. 

Thus may it ripen into bloom. 

Fresh as the fragrant sod. 
And yield its beauty and perfume 

An offering pure to God. 

Sweet as the poetry of heaven, 

Bright as her evening star. 
Be all thy life in music given, 

While beauty fills each bar. 

Lynn, Mass., December 8, 1866. 




,1 

POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 47 < 



NEVERMORE 

RE the dear days ever coming again, 
As sweetly they came of yore, 
Singing the olden and dainty re- 
frain, 
Oh, ever and nevermore? 

Ever to gladness and never to tears, 

Ever the gross world above; 
Never to toiling and never to fears, 

Ever to Truth and to Love? 

Can the forever of happiness be 

Outside this ever of pain? 
Will the hereafter from suffering free 

The weary of body and brain? 

Weary of sobbing, hke some tired child 

Over the tears it has shed; 
Weary of sowing the wayside and wild. 

Watching the husbandman fled; 

Nevermore reaping the harvest we deem. 

Evermore gathering in woe — 
Say, are the sheaves and the gladness a 
dream. 

Or to the patient who sow? 

Lynn, Mass., September 3, 1871. 




48 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

MEETING OF MY DEPARTED 
MOTHER AND HUSBAND 

OY for thee, happy friend ! thy bark 
is past 
The dangerous sea, and safely 
moored at last — 

Beyond rough foam. 
Soft gales celestial, in sweet music bore — 
Spirit emancipate for this far shore — 

Thee to thy home. 

"YouVe traveled long, and far from mortal 

joys. 
To Soul's diviner sense, that spurns such toys, 

Brave wrestler, lone. 
Now see thy ever-self; Life never fled; 
Man is not mortal, never of the dead : 

The dark unknown. 

"When hope soared high, and joy was eagle- 
plumed, 

Thy pinions drooped; the flesh was weak, 
and doomed 

To pass away. 

But faith triumphant round thy death-couch 
shed 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 49 

Majestic forms; and radiant glory sped 

The dawning day. 

^'Intensely grand and glorious life's sphere, — 
Beyond the shadow, infinite appear 

Life, Love divine, — 
Where mortal yearnings come not, sighs 

are stilled, 
And home and peace and hearts are found 
and filled. 

Thine, ever thine. 

^^Bearest thou no tidings from our loved on 

earth, 
The toiler tireless for Truth's new birth 

All-unbeguiled? 
Our joy is gathered from her parting sigh: 
This hour looks on her heart with pitying 
eye,— 

What of my child?" 

^'When, severed by death's dream, I woke 

to Life, 
She deemed I died, and could not know the 

strife 

At first to fill 
That waking with a love that steady turns 



50 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

To God; a hope that ever upward yearns, 
Bowed to His will. 

^' Years had passed o'er thy broken household 

band, 
When angels beckoned me to this bright land, 

With thee to meet. 
She that has wept o'er thee, kissed my cold 

brow, 
Rears the sad marble to our memory now, 
In lone retreat. 

"By the remembrance of her loyal life. 
And parting prayer, I only know my wife, 

Thy child, shall come — 
Where farewells cloud not o'er our ransomed 

rest — 
Hitherto reap, with all the crowned and blest. 

Of bliss the sum. 

*'When Love's rapt sense the heartstrings 

gently sweep 
With joy divinely fair, the high and deep, 

To call her home. 
She shall mount upward unto purer skies; 
We shall be waiting, in what glad surprise. 

Our spirits' own!" 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 51 

ISLE OF WIGHT 

On receiving a painting of the Isle. 

SLE of beauty, thou art singing 

To my sense a sweet refrain; 

To my busy mem'ry bringing 

Scenes that I would see again. 

Chief, the charm of thy reflecting, 

Is the moral that it brings; 
Nature, with the mind connecting. 

Gives the artist's fancy wings. 

Soul, sublime 'mid human debris, 
Paints the linmer's work, I ween, 

Art and Science, all unweary. 
Lighting up this mortal dream. 

Work ill-done within the misty 
Mine of human thoughts, we see 

Soon abandoned when the Master 
Crowns life's Cliff for such as we. 

Students wise, he maketh now thus 
Those who fish in waters deep. 

When the buried Master hails us 
From the shores afar, complete. 



52 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

Art hath bathed this isthmus-lordling 
In a beauty strong and meek 

As the rock, whose upward tending 
Points the plane of power to seek. 

Isle of beauty, thou art teaching 
Lessons long and grand, tonight, 

To my heart that would be bleaching 
To thy whiteness. Cliff of Wight. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 53 



SPRING 

OME to thy bowers, sweet spring, 
And paint the gray, stark trees, 
The bud, the leaf and wing — 
Bring with thee brush and breeze. 



And soft thy shading lay 
On vale and woodland deep; 

With sunshine's lovely ray 
Light o'er the rugged steep. 

More softly warm and weave 
The patient, timid grass, 

Till heard at silvery eve 
Poor robin's lonely mass. 

Bid faithful swallows come 
And build their cozy nests. 

Where wind nor storm can numb 
Their downy little breasts. 

Come at the sad heart's call. 
To empty summer bowers. 

Where still and dead are all 
The vernal songs and flowers. 



54 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

It may be months or years 
Since joyous spring was there. 

come to clouds and tears 

With Hght and song and prayer! 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 55 



JUNE 

HENCE are thy wooings, gentle 
June? 
Thou hast a naiad's charm; 
■^ Thy breezes scent the rose's 

breath; 
Old Time gives thee her palm. 
The lark's shrill song doth wake the dawn: 

The eve-bird's forest flute 
Gives back some maiden melody, 
Too pure for aught so mute. 

The fairy-peopled world of flowers, 

Enraptured by thy spell, 
Looks love unto the laughing hours, 

Through woodland, grove, and dell; 
And soft thy footstep falls upon 

The verdant grass it weaves; 
To melting murmurs ye have stirred 

The timid, trembling leaves. 

When sunshine beautifies the shower, 
As smiles through teardrops seen. 

Ask of its June, the long-hushed heart, 
What hath the record been? 



56 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

And thou wilt find that harmonies, 
In which the Soul hath part, 

Ne'er perish young, like things of earth, 
In records of the heart. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 57 . 

i 

I 

RONDELET i 

The flowers of June 
The gates of memory unbar: 

The flowers of June 

Such old-time harmonies retune, 
I fain would keep the gates ajar, — 
So full of sweet enchantment are 

The flowers of June. 

— James T. White. 

HO loves not June 

Is out of tune 

With love and God; 

The rose his rival reigns, 
The stars reject his pains, 
His home the clod! 

And yet I trow. 

When sweet rondeau 

Doth play a part, 

The curtain drops on June; 

Veiled is the modest moon — 

Hushed is the heart. 





58 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



AUTUMN 

UICKLY earth's jewels disappear; 

The turf, whereon I tread, 
Ere autumn blanch another year, 
May rest above my head. 



Touched by the finger of decay 

Is every earthly love; 
For joy, to shun my weary way, 

Is registered above. 

The languid brooklets yield their sighs, 

A requiem o'er the tomb 
Of sunny days and cloudless skies, 

Enhancing autumn's gloom. 

The wild winds mutter, howl, and moan, 
To scare my woodland walk. 

And frightened fancy flees, to roam 
Where ghosts and goblins stalk. 

The cricket's sharp, discordant scream 
Fills mortal sense with dread; 

More sorrowful it scarce could seem; 
It voices beauty jfled. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 59 

Yet here, upon this faded sod, — 

happy hours and fleet, — 
When songsters' matin hymns to God 

Are poured in strains so sweet, 

My heart unbidden joins rehearse, 

1 hope it's better made. 
When mingUng with the universe, 

Beneath the maple's shade. 

Written in girlhood, in a maple grove. I 

I 




60 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



ALPHABET AND BAYONET 

F fancy plumes aerial flight, 
Go fix thy restless mind 
On learning's lore and wisdom's 
might, 

And live to bless mankind. 
The sword is sheathed, 'tis freedom's hour, 

No despot bears misrule. 
Where knowledge plants the foot of power 
In our God-blessed free school. 

Forth from this fount the streamlets flow. 

That widen in their course. 
Hero and sage arise to show 

Science the mighty source. 
And laud the land whose talents rock 

The cradle of her power, 
And wreaths are twined round Plymouth 
Rock, 

From erudition's bower. 

Farther than feet of chamois fall. 

Free as the generous air. 
Strains nobler far than clarion call 

Wake freedom's welcome, where 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 61 

Minerva's silver sandals still 

Are loosed, and not effete; 
Where echoes still my day-dreams thrill, 

Woke by her fancied feet. 




62 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 



THE COUNTRY-SEAT 

ILD spirit of song, — midst the 
zephyrs at play 
In bowers of beauty, — I bend to 
thy lay, 

And woo, while I worship in deep sylvan spot. 
The Muses' soft echoes to kindle the grot. 
Wake chords of my lyre, with musical kiss. 
To vibrate and tremble with accents of bliss. 

Here morning peers out, from her crimson 

repose, 
On proud Prairie Queen and the modest 

Moss-rose; 
And vesper reclines — when the dewdrop is 

shed 
On the heart of the pink — in its odorous bed; 
But Flora has stolen the rainbow and sky, 
To sprinkle the flowers with exquisite dye. 

Here fame-honored hickory rears his bold 

form. 
And bares a brave breast to the lightning 

and storm, 



i 
POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 63 

While palm, bay, and laurel, in classical 
glee, 

Chase tulip, magnolia, and fragrant fringe- 
tree; 

And sturdy horse-chestnut for centuries hath 
given 

Its feathery blossom and branches to heaven. 

Here is life! Here is youth! Here the poets 

world-wish, — 
Cool waters at play with the gold-gleaming 

fish; 
While cactus a mellower glory receives 
From light colored softly by blossom and 

leaves ; 
And nestling alder is whispering low, 
In lap of the pear-tree, with musical flow.i 

Dark sentinel hedgerow is guarding repose. 
Midst grotto and songlet and streamlet that 

flows 
Where beauty and perfume from buds burst 

away, 
And ope their closed cells to the bright, 

laughing day; 

* An alder growing from the bent branch of a pear- 
tree. 



64 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

Yet, dwellers in Eden, earth yields you her 

tear, — 
Oft plucked for the banquet, but laid on the 

bier. 

Earth's beauty and glory delude as the shrine 
Or fount of real joy and of visions divine; 
But hope, as the eaglet that spurneth the sod, 
May soar above matter, to fasten on God, 
And freely adore all His spirit hath made. 
Where rapture and radiance and glory ne'er 
fade. 

Oh, give me the spot where affection may 

dwell 
In sacred communion with home's magic 

spell! 
Where flowers of feeling are fragrant and 

fair. 
And those we most love find a happiness 

rare; 
But clouds are a presage, — they darken my 

lay: 
This life is a shadow, and hastens away. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 65 



TO ELLEN, ''SING ME THAT SONG!'' 

SING me that song! My spirit is 
sad, 
Life's pulses move fitful and slow ; 
A meeting with loved ones in 
dreams I have had, 
Whose robes were as spotless as snow: 
A phantom of joy, it fled with the hght. 

And left but a parting in air. 
My soul is enchained to Hfe's dreary night, 
sing me ''Sweet hour of prayer"! 

Ah, sleep, twin sister of death and of night! 

My thoughts 'neath thy drap'ry still lie. 
Alas! that from dreams so boundless and 
bright 

We waken to life's dreary sigh. 
Those moments most sweet are fleetest alway, 

For love claspeth earth's raptures not long. 
Till darkness and death like mist melt away, 

To rise to a seraph's new song. 

O'er ocean or Alps, the stranger who roams 
But gathers a wreath for his bier; 

For life hath its music in low minor tones, 
And man is the cause of its tear. 



66 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

But drops of pure nectar our brimming cup 
fill, 

When we walk by that murmuring stream; 
Or when, like the thrill of that mountain rill, 

Your songs float in memory's dream. 

Sweet spirit of love, at soft eventide 

Wake gently the chords of her lyre, 
And whisper of one who sat by her side 

To join with the neighboring choir; 
And tell how that heart is silent and sad, 

No melody sweeps o'er its strings! 
'Tis breaking alone, but a young heart and 
glad — 

Might cheer it, perchance, when she sings. 

Lynn, Mass., August 25, 1866. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 67 

LINES, ON VISITING PINE GROVE 
CEMETERY 

^j^JfSl H, why should the brief bhss of Ufe's 
little day 
Grow cold in this spot as the spirit- 
less clay, 

And thought be at work with the long- 
buried hours, 
And tears be bedewing these fresh-smiling 
flowers! 

Ah, wherefore the memory of dear ones 
deemed dead 

Should bow thee, as winds bow the tall wil- 
low's head! 

Beside you they walk while you weep, and 
but pass 

From your sight as the shade o'er the dark 
wavy grass. 

The cypress may mourn with her evergreen 

tears, 
And, like the blue hyacinth, change not with 

years; 
Yea, flowers of feeling may blossom above. 
To yield earth the fragrance of goodness and 

love: 



68 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

So one heart is left me — she breathes in my 

ear, 
''I'm living to bless thee; for this are we 

here." 
And when this sweet pledge to my lone heart 

was given, 
Earth held but this joy, or this happiness 

heaven! 

Here the rock and the sea and the tall wav- 
ing pine 

Enchant deep the senses, — subduing, sub- 
lime; 

Yet stronger than these is the spell that hath 
power 

To sweep o'er the heartstrings in memory's 
hou^. 

Of the past 'tis the talisman, when we three 

met, 
When the star of our friendship arose not to 

set; 
And pure as its rising, and bright as the star, 
Be its course through our heavens, whether 

near or afar. 

Lynn, Mass., August 24, 1865. 



POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 69 

A VERSE 

Mother's New Year Gift to the Little Children 

ATHER-Mother God, 
Loving me, — 
Guard me when I sleep; 
Guide my little feet 
Up to Thee. 

To the Big Children 

Father-Mother good, lovingly 

Thee I seek, — 

Patient, meek. 
In the way Thou hast, — 
Be it slow or fast, 

Up to Thee. 





70 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

TRUTH 

EYOND the clouds, away 
In the dim distance, lay 
A bright and golden shower 
At sunset's radiant hour, — 
Like to the soul's glad immortality, 
Making this life divine, 
Making its waters wine, 
Giving the glory that eye cannot see. 

In God there is no night, — 

Truth is eternal light, 

A help forever near; 

For sinless sense is here 
In Truth, the Life, the Principle of man. 

Away, then, mortal sense! 

Then, error, get thee hence, 
Thy discord ne'er in harmony began! 

Immortal Truth, — since heaven rang, 

The while the glad stars sang 

To hail creation's glorious morn — 

As when this babe was born, 
A painless heraldry of Soul, not sense, — 

Shine on our ' wilder ed way, 

Give God's idea sway. 
And sickness, sin, and death are banished 
hence. 

Lynn, Mass., Ayril, 1871. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 71 

''THE LIBERTY BELLS'' 

HIS is the hour they then foretold — 
When earth, inebriate with crime, 
Laughed right to scorn, and guilt, 
grown bold. 
Knelt worshiping at mammon's shrine. 

This is the hour! Corruption's band 
Is driven back; and periled right. 

Rescued by the ^'fanatic" hand. 
Spans our broad heaven of light. 

Righteousness ne'er — awestruck or dumb — 
Feared for an hour the tyrant's heel! 

Injustice to the combat sprang; 
God to the rescue — Liberty, peal! 

Joy is in every belfry bell — 

Joy for the captive! Sound it long! 

Ye who have wept fourscore can tell 
The holy meaning of their song. 

Tis freedom's birthday — blood-bought 
boon! 

O war-rent flag! O soldier-shroud! 
Thine be the glory — nor too soon 

Is heard your ^'Cry aloud!" 



72 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

O not too soon is rent the chain 
And charter, tramphng right in dust! 

Till God is God no longer — ne'er again 
Quench liberty that's just. 

Lynn, Mass., February 3,. 1865. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 73 



''MEMENTO'' 

Respectfully inscribed to my friends in Lynn. 

COME to thee 
O'er the moonht sea, 
When the hoarse wave revisits thy 
shore! 
When waters shout, 
And the stars peep out, 
I am with thee in spirit once more. 

Then hst the moan ^ 

Of the billows' foam, 
Laving with surges thy silv'ry beach! 

Night's dewy eye. 

The sea-mew's lone cry, 
Witness my presence and utter my speech. 

Pleasant a grave 

By the ''Rock" or wave, 
And afar from life's turmoil its goal. 

No sculptured lie. 

Or hypocrite sigh. 
E'er to mock the bright truth of the soul. 



74 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

Friends, will not ye 

Think kindly of me, 
In those moments to memory bestowed? 

Smile on me yet, 

O blue eyes and jet, 
Soft as when parting thy sympathy glowed! 

March 3, 1867. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 75 



COMMUNION HYMN 

AW ye my Saviour? Heard ye the 
glad sound? 
Felt ye the power of the Word? 
'Twas the Truth that made us free, 
And was found by you and me 
In the life and the love of our Lord. 

Mourner, it calls you, — ''Come to my 

bosom, 
Love wipes your tears all away, 
And will lift the shade of gloom, 
And for you make radiant room 
Midst the glories of one endless day.'' 

Sinner, it calls you, —'' Come to this fountain, 

Cleanse the foul senses within; 

'Tis the Spirit that makes pure, 

That exalts thee, and will cure 

All thy sorrow and sickness and sin." 

Strongest deliverer, friend of the friendless. 
Life of all being divine: 
Thou the Christ, and not the creed; 
Thou the Truth in thought and deed; 
Thou the water, the bread, and the wine. 




76 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

LAUS DEO! 

The laying of the corner-stone of The Mother Church. 

AUS DEO, it is done! 
Rolled away from loving heart 

Is a stone. 
Lifted higher, we depart, 

Having one. 

Laus Deo, — on this rock 
(Heaven chiseled squarely good) 

Stands His church, — 
God is Love, and understood 

By His flock. 

Laus DeOj night star-lit 
Slumbers not in God's embrace; 

Be awake; 
Like this stone, be in thy place : 

Stand, not sit. 

Grave, silent, steadfast stone. 
Dirge and song and shoutings low 

In thy heart 
Dwell serene, — and sorrow? No, 

It has none, 

Laus Deo! 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 77 



OUR NATIONAL THANKSGIVING 
HYMN 

OD of the rolling year! to Thee we 
raise 
A nation's hoUest hymn in grateful 
praise! 

Plenty and peace abound at Thy behest, 
Yet wherefore this Thy love? Thou knowest 
best! 

Thou who, impartial, blessings spreadst 

abroad, 
Thou wisdom, Love, and Truth, — divinely 

God! 
Who giveth joy and tears, conflict and rest, 
Teaching us thus of Thee, who knowest best! 

Ruler Supreme! to Thee we'll meekly bow. 
When we have learned of Truth what Thou 

doest now — 
Why from this festive hour some dear lost 

guest 
Bears hence its sunht glow — Thou knowest 

best! 



78 POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 

How have our honored dead fought on in 

gloom! 
Peace her white wings will spread over their 

tomb; 
Why waited their reward, triumph and rest, 
Till molds the hero form? Thou knowest 

best! 

Shades of our heroes! the Union now is one, 
The star whose destiny none may outrun; 
Tears of the bleeding slave poured on her 

breast, 
When to be wiped away, Thou knowest best ! 

Thou who in the Christ hallowed its grief, — 
O meekest of mourners, while yet the chief, — 
Give to the pleading hearts comfort and rest, 
In that benediction which knoweth best! 

Lynn, Mass., December 7, 1865. 




POEMS BY MARY BAKER EDDY 79 

SATISFIED 

T matters not what be thy lot, 
So Love doth guide; 
For storm or shine, pure peace is 
thine, 
Whatever betide. 

And of these stones, or tyrants' thrones, 

God able is 
To raise up seed — in thought and deed — 

To faithful His. 

Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence! 

Our God is good. 
False fears are foes — truth tatters those. 

When understood. 

Love looseth thee, and hfteth me, 

Ayont hate's thrall: 
There Life is light, and wisdom might, 

And God is All. 

The centuries break, the earth-bound wake, 

God's glorified! 
Who doth His will — His hkeness still — 
Is satisfied. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., January, 1900. 



